Our Response to Linus Sebastian | GamersNexus
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GN Extras Our Response to Linus Sebastian January 21, 2025 Last Updated: 2025-01-21 GamersNexus responds to Linus Sebastian's WAN Show segment Evidence Included PLAGIARISM: Receipt #1 - History of Failure to Resolve IssuesDATA ERRORS: Receipt #2 - History of Failure to Resolve IssuesEDITORIAL DISPUTE: Receipt #3 - Unprofessionalism in Prior Communications Table of Contents AutoTOC Intro On January 17, 2025, Linus Sebastian, Founder/CVO of Linus Media Groups and property Linus Tech Tips, explicitly requested that we produce “receipts” relating to comments we have previously made. The quote is below: “I would also be very curious to see receipts for the claims that we have a ‘history of failure to resolve issues or unprofessionalism in prior communications.” - Linus Sebastian Sebastian on multiple occasions insinuated that we were defaming him and his company and suggested that we are dishonest. In our publication on this page, upon explicit request by Linus Sebastian, we will be providing the requested evidence. We will also provide corrections to his additional errors.  This evidence provided highlights the following, all of which occurred prior to GamersNexus’ 2023 video:  Plagiarism by Linus Tech Tips of GamersNexus content wherein we previously privately reached out without resolutionUnprofessional and aggressive communications in privateHistory of failure to resolve data accuracy issues that were privately raised We have spent several years keeping all of this information private as a courtesy. However, with recent demands from Linus Sebastian to produce “receipts,” and with his segment containing numerous factual errors, we are now providing the details below. Additional history of Linus Sebastian’s failure to resolve issues or unprofessionalism in prior communications are available; however, as a continued ongoing and professional courtesy, only the minimum amount of interactions are presented below that are needed to prove the claims that were made and provide the requested evidence. Credits Writing Steve Burke Context In this publication by Linus Media Group on the WAN Show and LMG Clips, the latter of which was originally entitled “Is GamersNexus Ethical Journalism?” later renamed to “Linus emailed Gamers Nexus,” and most recently renamed to “Can Linus & Gamers Nexus Ever be Friends Again?,” Sebastian stated the following: “Since we’re at this: I would also be very curious to see receipts for the claims that we have a ‘history of failure to resolve issues or unprofessionalism in prior communications.’ OK. GN further writes, ‘we previously had non-public contact with this organization’ (LMG here) ‘about similar matters that were not resolved satisfactorily or wherein we sometimes were the recipients of aggressive messaging pertaining to review topics.’ That is an extraordinary claim that I believe requires extraordinary evidence.” For the full context of this clip, you may watch from approximately 10:22 until approximately 12:38. This is what we believe contextualizes the request for “receipts.” Of course, you may watch the entire video if you like and decide what you believe the context is. It is linked above. On the screen during the above quote, Linus Sebastian reads from a Gamers.Nexus mini-site post (click the “Problem with Linus Tech Tips” accordion), wherein we shared our reasoning for not contacting Linus Sebastian or Linus Media Group in advance of publication of our video entitled “The Problem with Linus Tech Tips: Accuracy, Ethics, & Responsibility,” published on August 14, 2023. The criteria being discussed is included in full below. 6 different criteria were met, of which this is one of them: “Criteria Met [for no contact]: History of Failure to Resolve Issues or Unprofessionalism in prior Communications (we previously had non-public contact with the organization about similar matters that were not resolved satisfactorily or wherein we sometimes were the recipients of aggressive messaging pertaining to review topics).” - Gamers.Nexus All criteria that were met can be found here. PLAGIARISM: Receipt #1 - History of Failure to Resolve Issues Context: In a September 16, 2022 publication of the WAN Show with over 2,000,000 views (“The Biggest Tech Divorce”), Linus Sebastian read from a script about the EVGA / NVIDIA split. The script nearly identically matched the order, topics, and words of a GamersNexus report with 1,800,000 views, and yet at no time in the segment did Linus Sebastian cite GamersNexus or its author.  As additional context, this incident closely followed a GamersNexus video published on August 12, 2022, one month prior to this EVGA WAN show segment, where GamersNexus publicly criticized Linus Media Group relating to LMG’s warranty policies.  In regards to the plagiarism, Linus Media Group never satisfactorily resolved this issue or publicly acknowledged this theft of content or lack of citation. GamersNexus did not previously bring this issue publicly. EVGA Coverage Context: GamersNexus was one of three members of the media with access to the story that EVGA would quit manufacturing video cards; further, GamersNexus was the only party of the three which was familiar with several matters of the EVGA / NVIDIA split. GamersNexus was the only party privy to this additional information as the conversation was held in Mandarin Chinese between this author, Steve Burke, and EVGA CEO Andrew Han. No other parties to the conversation spoke Mandarin, and as a result, GamersNexus had exclusive access to several pieces of information. Evidence: View full-size image here. This email was sent to the following individuals: Linus Sebastian, then CEOLuke Lafreniere, CTONick Light, COO Result As of January 20, 2025, nearly 3 years later, there has been no public acknowledgement of the plagiarism, nor retraction of the content in the WAN Show upload with 2,000,000 views. The WAN Show upload and LMG Clips videos do not reference or cite GamersNexus either verbally or on screen at any point for the EVGA story.  In the LMG Clips subsequent upload with an additional 107,000 views, as of this publication, there has still been no attribution to GamersNexus in any form, including pinned comments.On the WAN Show 2,000,000 view upload, as of this publication, there has still been no attribution to GamersNexus in any form, including pinned comments. The only change made, after responding to our email, was a pinned comment stating “shoutout to Jayztwocents and Steve,” which is not the same as a citation, without ever acknowledging GamersNexus or the plagiarism or naming the author in full. This does not adequately cite the author and does not resolve the issue. Jayztwocents had already been cited verbally in the piece. GamersNexus reached out privately and in good faith to inform Linus Tech Tips of this serious issue. The expectation was that LTT/LMG would resolve it satisfactorily and inform the public of any wrongdoing. The public was never informed, and GamersNexus was never attributed. DATA ERRORS: Receipt #2 - History of Failure to Resolve Issues Context In this thread, which was cordial by all parties, we privately addressed a number of errors made in the video “Delidding a $1000 CPU - Worth the RISK??” These errors contributed to the presented platform instability and poor thermal results shown at various points in the video. These were not publicly corrected by LTT/LMG, and this predates our 2023 publication (“The Problem with Linus Tech Tips”). Evidence Ordered left-to-right. We reached out privately and alerted Linus Sebastian to the issues. Sebastian copied a staff writer. We felt the communication was cordial; however, Linus Tech Tips never posted a pinned comment, never updated its description, and never otherwise publicly noted the numerous test setup errors on the video in question, as of the date of this publication, which is around 7 years later. The video has 2,292,280 views as of January 20, 2025. This was not included in our August 2023 coverage, as it was from several years prior and we only focused on the most recent year of errors, as disclosed in that video. EDITORIAL DISPUTE: Receipt #3 - Unprofessionalism in Prior Communications Context On June 2, 2021, GamersNexus both replied to and tweeted about a reddit thread relating to the pricing of the RTX 3080 Ti cards, preceding the launch of the 3070 Ti. The full conversation is included below and occurred on June 11th, 2021, following the launch of the 3070 Ti. As it is from an ongoing text thread which may contain discussions from earlier or following events, and does not have clear start and stop points, if Linus Sebastian publicly requests for any prior or following text messages to be published, then we will amend this article with additional evidence. We later privately followed-up via email providing the reddit thread and timeline to further assure Sebastian that the matter was not related to him. We are also prepared to release these emails if publicly requested by Sebastian. We also allege that there were derogatory comments made by Linus Sebastian in a conversation with Steve Burke on a private phone call on August 31, 2021 at 7:31 PM Eastern lasting 9m 43s, where Sebastian referred to Burke as being “less autistic than you used to be;” however, with no recording of said call, this can only be alleged and there is no additional evidence to provide. Ultimately, these examples, among others still being kept private as a courtesy, made me personally uncomfortable engaging in private communications with Linus Sebastian when relating to editorial differences, perceived or actual. Additional Evidence GamersNexus believes that these “receipts” answer the demand to provide them to support our statements that Sebastian has a history of unprofessionalism in prior communications while still maintaining the maximum possible integrity of the privacy of the conversations. If publicly requested by Linus Sebastian to produce further evidence, GamersNexus is prepared to publicly do so. Additional Errors and Misrepresentations The WAN show publication (January 17, 2025) and LMG Clips segment (January 18, 2025) further included several wholly and provably inaccurate statements and misrepresentations. In interest of brevity, we are listing only a few of them below. ERRORS AND MISREPRESENTATION: Example #1 - “Special Treatment” Linus Sebastian, in his WAN Show segment (03:18), used a previously published video clip from Ian Cutress containing errors. This advanced inaccurate statements and was used as evidence for Sebastian’s own erroneous claims. In the time since his video went up, we publicly addressed these timelines, which we will detail again below.  We believe Linus Sebastian’s reliance upon these incorrect statements is used as evidence that GamersNexus treats Linus Sebastian and Linus Media Group unfairly and that GamersNexus reaches out to other companies in advance, but not Sebastian or LMG. The relevant quote from that clip, which Sebastian included in his recent WAN show addressing GamersNexus, is as follows: “One part of ethical investigative journalism is, unless it’s covering an explicit crime or breaking the law, reaching out to get a formal response in advance. GamersNexus did it with Principled Technologies and that blew up. GamersNexus did it with Newegg and that blew up. Somehow, those companies got special treatment, but Linus Media Group did not.” This quote occurs around 3:29 in the LMG Clips upload and can be watched in full for further background information. These statements relating to Principled Technologies and Newegg are factually incorrect. The facts of these two examples, as published on our site, are as follows: Principled Technologies: “Our first story (in the ‘Mix’ column) involved outreach from Intel and no contact to Principled Technologies. In that story, we stated that we’d be driving over to their offices as that video went live. While possible they had about 10 minutes heads-up if they saw that video, we did not contact before the content, because they were the content.” Newegg: “We did not contact Newegg in a non-public fashion in this piece. In the first piece, we publicly blasted Newegg on Twitter as the first entry (after anonymously contacting customer support — which was part of the review as a consumer) and then published our video. Newegg actually replied to our tweet and asked us to talk. We told them: ‘We can talk after our video goes up. I'm not a big fan of disingenuous attempts to fix an issue after it's revealed that the mistreated customer has a following.’ We ran the video without their comment because it had become a true customer service investigation — normal customers don’t get PR channels, so we refused those channels and also we publicly exposed them before they even attempted them. It wasn’t until we visited them that Newegg had a real chance to comment (see: ‘Contact’ to the right).” These errors could have been avoided by Linus Sebastian had proper research been conducted before making irresponsible and false statements. Further errors have also been documented but have been held for brevity.  MISREPRESENTATION: Example #2 - “I never got a response” - Linus Sebastian Linus Sebastian in his WAN show segment on January 17, 2025, timestamped at 14:35, stated that he sent a text message to Steve Burke of GamersNexus following the August, 2023 “The Problem with Linus Tech Tips” video.  Sebastian states: “My last message to him was on the day he published the exposé and I never got a response.” However, Sebastian did not text Steve Burke’s current phone number, yet he has previously been in frequent contact via the current, correct number.  Here is a timeline: In approx. August, 2021, Steve changed phone numbers due to his prior number leaking publiclySteve contacted Nick Light, COO of Linus Media Group, and Linus Sebastian, then-CEO, to inform them of the changeSeveral conversations ensued over the following 2 years between Linus Sebastian and Steve Burke on this phone number, an already-public example that proves this as follows:At approximately 05:00 AM on March 23, 2023 and from his current and correct phone number, Steve repeatedly called and texted Linus Sebastian’s personal number to awaken and alert Sebastian to a channel hack wherein Linus Tech Tips had been compromised and taken over by hackers. Sebastian has publicly acknowledged and shown these texts in this video (“My Channel Was Deleted Last Night”). Sebastian and Steve continued to text via this correct and current phone number numerous times in relation to the hacking event.On the date of publishing our August, 2023 “The Problem with Linus Tech Tips” video, Sebastian claims to have texted Steve a lengthy message. Sebastian did not, in fact, text this to Steve’s correct phone number. After investigation, we found that he sent it to Steve’s prior phone number -- one which Sebastian had not sent any texts to since approx. July 9, 2021, years prior.On January 17, 2025, Linus Sebastian claims he “never got a response” from a 2023 message sent to a number no longer actively monitored by Steve (but still held in storage for security reasons) Substantial evidence exists, and we are prepared to provide more upon Sebastian’s public request, to demonstrate that Linus Sebastian has been aware of and has actively engaged with Steve’s correct phone number for at least two years preceding the message shared on January 17, 2025. This is a mischaracterization of the actual events and publicly unfairly depicts GamersNexus, and in particular Steve Burke, in a negative light.  Additional Errors / Conclusion If Linus Sebastian would like to make a public video requesting our further elaboration, he can do so and then provide us with a full transcript of his WAN show segment. We will proceed to go line-by-line and dispute all false timelines, inaccuracies, and omissions from his WAN show segment, of which there are many more. Short of that, we have provided the above examples of some of the critical errors from his video, and provided the requested and sufficient receipts to evidence our claims. Email to Linus Media Group Upon publication of this article, we sent an email to Linus Media Group’s executive team. The email is enclosed below. -- Terren, Linus, Luke, Nick: In LMG’s WAN Show segment, Linus Sebastian stated the following: “I think it is undeniable that these omissions and errors are significant and that they've done significant, possibly irreparable damage to my reputation, to my company, and to my finances. To be clear, I'm only pointing out the finances because it's such an important factor in cases of libel and defamation.” This statement escalates tensions to the highest severity and necessitates our response. Sebastian also stated: “I would also be very curious to see receipts for the claims that we have a ‘history of failure to resolve issues or unprofessionalism in prior communications.’” Given the severity of these accusations and what we perceive to be veiled threats, and given the direct request of “receipts” by Linus Sebastian on the show, please find the following information: We have published our official response to the WAN Show segment on our website. In our publication, upon explicit request by Linus Sebastian, we provided “receipts” / evidence in regards to Linus Sebastian’s, and as a result, Linus Media Group’s and Linus Tech Tips’ “history of failure to resolve issues or unprofessionalism in prior communications,” as well as corrections to several of Sebastian’s inaccuracies, false statements, and misleading representations.  We unequivocally deny and reject your statements and false claims of defamation. In contrast, we assert that the provably false and misleading statements that have been distributed by Linus Media Group as a company, and Linus Sebastian in his own personal capacity, have caused extensive and significant harm to GamersNexus, LLC and the owner, Steve Burke, in both a direct financial manner, as well as a significant reputational manner, that continues to be unmitigated and accrue additional damages with each passing day that the content is allowed to propagate knowingly false information, including, but not limited to, Linus Media Group’s continued profiting off of content plagiarized from GamersNexus, LLC. We view your coverage as irresponsible, negligent, and damaging.  Frankly speaking: I feel Linus Sebastian has provided a manipulative and deceptive offer to try to “bury the hatchet,” create a “team media,” and encourage a “brotherhood” as if it is a personal spat between friends. I believe Sebastian’s statements are intended to diminish the seriousness and impact of any criticism by any creator toward Linus Sebastian or Linus Media Group, and suppress current and future coverage. Sebastian’s recent calls for friendship were accompanied by serious legal allegations and claims regarding the ethics and motives behind our entire business. We believe this is a play on parasocial relationships, reinforced by Linus Media Group’s decision to re-title the LMG Clip “Can Linus & Gamers Nexus Ever be Friends Again?”, where it paints GamersNexus as a friend who just needs to make up with LTT so things can “get back to normal.” This suppresses dissenting views by pretending to be everyone’s friend, so a legitimate critique seems like a personal attack to onlooking viewers. At this stage, Linus Media Group and GamersNexus have both made statements which are extremely serious. This is far beyond presenting a front of friendliness, and I am respectfully requesting that Linus Sebastian drops that facade publicly, as well as ceases the repeated personal emails requesting as much, as it is personally making me extremely uncomfortable. That said, I think Linus Media Group has some well-intentioned and extremely intelligent people, including Luke Lafreniere, and I feel there could still be benefit to open discussions relating to his efforts in LMG’s Labs, the industry, or coverage types. At Computex, if Luke wishes to, or if Luke and Linus Sebastian (collectively only), wish to speak privately, please feel free to let me know and we can talk. Given the legal nature of Linus Sebastian’s allegations though and on advice of our attorneys, we are neither willing nor able to discuss this specific topic further, and any further contact related to this matter will instead be forwarded to GamersNexus, LLC’s attorneys if a response is necessary.  We will be at Computex and available on Friday, May 23 and can book a meeting room for a private discussion such as testing, hardware, the industry, or other topics unrelated to this matter, if Luke wishes to do so.  Regards, -- Steve Burke Editor-in-Chief GamersNexus

Wow.

  • Cossty@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    1 month ago

    After reading that article I can say that Linus is even bigger POS than he thought he was.

  • Boomkop3@reddthat.comEnglish
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    1 month ago

    Before reading: knowing Linus and GamersNexus, I think Mr. Nexus is in the wrong here, but won’t admit it

    • SatanClaus@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
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      1 month ago

      Lol. Is this a /s post. I think it’s very clear to any human being with eyes that can read. GN is much more thorough in literally all ways.

  • DogWater@lemmy.worldEnglish
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    1 month ago

    At this stage, Linus Media Group and GamersNexus have both made statements which are extremely serious. This is far beyond presenting a front of friendliness, and I am respectfully requesting that Linus Sebastian drops that facade publicly, as well as ceases the repeated personal emails requesting as much, as it is personally making me extremely uncomfortable.

    Uh I’m sorry what the fuck

  • Bieren@lemmy.worldEnglish
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    1 month ago

    Linus is just insufferable. Life has been great with his channels blocked for years and not paying a cent of attention to him. Everyone should try it.

    • Darkassassin07@lemmy.caEnglish
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      1 month ago

      Yeah; I only ever see his content when the drama spills into other channels now.

      I miss the days of small-time LTT doing silly projects like whole-room water cooling. :/

      • zalgotext@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
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        1 month ago

        Same. I feel like once Luke started taking more of a back seat content-wise and letting Linus get in front of the camera by himself more is when things started going downhill

        • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.worldEnglish
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          1 month ago

          I have a funny feeling Luke was the only one willing to talk at Linus behind the scenes to control some of Linus’s worse impulses… and once Luke was gone and having to focus on float plane…

      • golli@lemm.eeEnglish
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        1 month ago

        To me LLT is basically best when it is somewhat similar to old Top Gear, where they do silly projects (which increased in scope with the companies growth).

        For actual reviews on the other hand I’d never really trust them and would always look to other sources like GN or Hardware Unboxed (who e.g. seem to do great monitor reviews) for example.

        But I’ve also scaled back me watching the channel to maybe looking at it once or twice in the last year.

  • FeelzGoodMan420@eviltoast.orgEnglish
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    1 month ago

    If anyone wants to neatly summarize this drama in a few sentences, that would be much appreciated. I don’t have time to read this essay or watch multiple 45 minute videos on GN.

    • mohammed_alibi@lemmy.worldEnglish
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      1 month ago

      This stupid drama is a turn off for me. I am going to unsubscribe from GN and LTT. Going to watch other creators instead.

    • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.worldEnglish
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      1 month ago

      LTT is a shitheel, repeatedly.

      LTT gets called out for being a shitheel by different people.

      LTT Cries about being a victim of the big mean critics, specifically targeting GN (despite other critics)

      LTT fans get big mad at GN for criticizing dear leader, while completely ignoring every other critic (Just like LTT wanted)

      LTT successfully, amongst his cultists, frame it as “GN Big Mean at LTT, y u no be fren?” in desperate attempt to make someone other than LTT look like the bad guy… and fails.

      • Jyek@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
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        1 month ago

        Living up to your name… Could only be more accurate if you were TechJesusCultist. Everyone involved here are socially inept, self absorbed, wannabe journalists and not a single party here have a good track record for ethical journalism historically. Anyone here for journalistic integrity is barking up the wrong tree. They should both shut the fuck up and go back to making their money and getting free tech products for the reviews they put out and stop with this YouTube drama bullshit.

    • meowmeowbeanz@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
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      1 month ago

      The article outlines a dispute between two tech content creators. One party accuses the other of plagiarism, spreading misinformation, and being unprofessional, while the accused defends themselves by claiming miscommunication and unfair treatment. Both sides present evidence to back their claims, but it boils down to a messy argument over ethics, accuracy, and accountability in online tech media.

        • meowmeowbeanz@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
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          19 days ago

          Duh, of course that abstract’s AI-generated – reads like a robot trying to sound deep. You really think I’d waste energy on this low-effort drama nonsense? Already tired of seeing Captain Cartoon-Face’s cringey avatar plastered everywhere. Now? Couldn’t care less if it spontaneously combusted.

  • Krauerking@lemy.lolEnglish
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    1 month ago

    Man we need new tech reviewers that don’t make drama by talking past each other in pedantic ways to no ones benefit and go back to talking to the audience and in simple terms so that new people can find an in to join the community.

    This is pathetic. I’m so tired of both massive corporate Linus and Gamer’s Nexus.

    • zzx@lemmy.worldEnglish
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      1 month ago

      How is gamers Nexus corporate? Genuinely asking because I find their coverage refreshingly pro-consumer

      • Krauerking@lemy.lolEnglish
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        1 month ago

        Corporate was meant to be solely attached to Linus not Gamer’s Nexus. I just find their coverage to be not approachable and not consumer friendly. They often over pedantic into the weeds and don’t even properly talk about the massive tables they casually throw up on the screen.

        I’m sorry if my adjective was misattributed to GN

        • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.worldEnglish
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          1 month ago

          Weird, I’m a complete idiot and I have no problem getting enough from their review videos to understand basics and make informed decisions.

          • Krauerking@lemy.lolEnglish
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            1 month ago

            You can learn addition from reading an algebra textbook too. Doesn’t make it efficient or welcoming to most.

    • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.worldEnglish
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      1 month ago

      Ah yes, a lovely little trap.

      First its all “GamersNexus should just stop acknowledging LTT! So insufferable!”

      Then if that happens, it quickly becomes “What, so GamersNexus cant even report on LTT? PFft, so much for integrity and advocacy!”

          • superterran@lemmy.worldEnglish
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            1 month ago

            Ok lol I don’t care about Linus, I find Steve’s constant drama bait annoying. Literally just trying to take advantage of other people’s investigative journalism and ride the wave. It’s not just LTT, it’s something new every week.

            • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.worldEnglish
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              1 month ago

              "Im TOOOOOTALLY not a follower of dear leader. I’m a super independent thinker who is just coincidentally pushing the same narrative and spewing baseless hate for the guy Dear Leader wants attacked.*

              • superterran@lemmy.worldEnglish
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                1 month ago

                Linus is saying this too? lol I didn’t even realize I assumed Linus was all “we’re humble and also did nothing wrong”. If he’s straight up just pointing out how low rent the tactic is then yeah I guess we’re coincidently aligned

                Edit - For the record I’m sure Steve is right about his claims, I’m just saying it’s a pattern that he tears people down every week in an effort to look like a “journalist” and I find that part tacky. I enjoy good reviews

  • MajorasMaskForever@lemmy.worldEnglish
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    1 month ago

    I’m not sure these are the receipts GamersNexus believes them to be. They’re all kinda stretching things into a gray area.

    The plagiarism part is straight up incorrect. LMG did not say that their discussion was original reporting. The WAN show is explicitly a podcast reacting to news articles and events (WAN = Weekly Analysis and News). Plagerism needs a “passing off as your own” piece, while IANAL given react content typically ends up in the fair use category because of additional commentary and thoughts being added, the WAN show doesn’t have to disclose sources. Usually on WAN show they mention where they heard of the story, and not mentioning GN is a dick move, but it’s not plagiarism.

    The history of not following up on issues was definitely better addressed in the original GN video. But at the same time, this just makes it seems like GN is trying to use the argument “Hey we warned you once that some of your methodologies aren’t great and led to skewed results and you didn’t really react, so now we’re gonna release an hour long video on all of your previous fuck ups and not tell you, k thx bi*”

    To Linus’s original point on not getting a heads up, that’s not industry standard behavior and also kind of a dick move.

    The unprofessional communication part I can go either way with. Would I talk to my boss like that? No. Technical mentors and peers that I had a good relationship with? Absolutely and I have done it. By the book it’s unprofessional it’s hardly the damning statements Gamers Nexus is trying to sell them as.

    Also for those of you who have not watched any LMG content since that original GN video, LMG has cleaned up their act quite a bit, so credit where credit is due. Linus also only asked for receipts since he was getting increasingly frustrated with several negative comments coming from GN whereas on the LMG side they’ve continued to praise and recommend GN content

    • Dalkor@lemmy.worldEnglish
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      1 month ago

      While I mostly agree with you, I do think there are problematic things in this article that make Linus come off as disingenuous at best, especially seeing that he played the “I have 0 idea what I did wrong, I want to sue you but i wont” card.

      As for the reciepts for lack of citations, while I think it’s obvious that Steve is asking for citations and he shouldn’t have to ask, it’s always best to make your request explicit. It breeds animosity to have expectations and not state or ask them clearly. I could absolutely see someone being naive in these exchanges and thinking that Steve was reaching out not to get a citation but to fix future mistakes.

      The worst thing about this bullshit though is the lmg clips video title. It’s a serious allegation that Linus allegedly wants to resolve, but they cover it in cringe memery. And I say this as someone who watches LTT and not GN.

      I think if Linus had just called out Steve’s beef and publicly requested some forum to speak privately or publicly and sort out differences, that’d be one thing. But with the lmg clip title and the “want to sue, but I won’t” bs, it all just seems kinda gross. I know that Linus may not be personally responsible for that, but the company uses his name, and he started it.

      • MajorasMaskForever@lemmy.worldEnglish
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        1 month ago

        I took Linus’s statement to mean that he doesn’t understand why he is continuing to get heat from GN since they have addressed the issues GN pointed out.

        The could sue but won’t part I think it’s coming more from a context with the ongoing Honey lawsuit, since at least on WAN show its been brought up several times that people recommend LMG join the lawsuit and Linus repeatedly refusing because as he puts it, he’s not a litigious person. Given the rest of the his plea in that segment for the viewers to not go after GN, I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on it. I also personally give a lot of leeway to people and organizations who have admitted mistakes in the past and corrected them so that definitely feeds into me choosing not to interpret things the way you are, even though I can see why you view it that way.

        And yeah the dedicated clips channel video was moronically named imho. Linus or someone else at LMG should have vetoed it, it’s a serious topic and deserves to be taken as such. If they felt the need to make a joke, do it like the “channel this angry energy into powering RTX 5090s”. A small quip at the end, not leading into things

        • Cenzorrll@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          1 month ago

          I’m my experience “I could sue, but won’t” is only ever used as a threat by narcissist assholes who got called out and don’t have enough evidence to sue, because if they truly did, they would. His ego was hurt by his own shitty attitude, so he’s using threats he can’t back up to be a bully. He’s basically saying “I have more money than you and can drain your resources with a frivolous lawsuit if I wanted to”

    • reliv3@lemmy.worldEnglish
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      1 month ago

      Your understanding of what qualifies as plagiarism feels wrong. Just because an organization advertises itself as a “weekly analysis and news” doesn’t disqualify them from citing sources. They still are required to give credit where credit is due… Even mainstream news channels will let their audience know where they are acquiring their information whenever it isn’t coming from their own investigations.

      At the end of the day, if a primary source privately requests a citation, then a citation is definitely required, so this is where lmg really messed up. GN (as the primary source) felt wronged when lmg used information from their own investigative journalism and did not give them credit (when they apparently gave Jayz2cents credit). At that point in time, lmg was obligated to give GN credit and lmg admitted to this mistake; but then did little to nothing to rectify it.

      • DogWater@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        1 month ago

        And moreover, the question is from Linus about why they weren’t given a right to reply to GN’s first big piece. The plagiarism and subsequent lack of resolution is stated as a reason that GN felt uncomfortable. GN evaluated that situation and felt it met their own standard. I dont know if LMGs reporting on EVGA actually qualifies as plagarism, but GN is successfully providing the context for their decision.

        Ultimately, Linus asked why? And GN said essentially because you did ‘this’ and it crossed our threshold for hostility, and we actually didn’t give those other outlets right of reply either like your claiming we did so calm down.

    • poke@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      0·
      1 month ago

      I have not finished reading the article, but “Receipt 1” is just embarrassing to GN in my eyes. They claim LMG never addresses the plagierism and provides an email chain where Linus tell him what exactly LMG is going to do in response and GN responds indicating the solution is good. Where is the problem?

      Specifically on publicly addressing it, Linus said they will pin a comment and Steve said that’s OK. That’s what happened. Is it truly unresolved? Just reading the emails provided makes it really look like an open and closed case.

      I also dont get why they include the additional context in that part of their response. What does GN’s recent criticism of LMG have to do with that interaction?

      Sorry, on mobile and just had to type something out before I forgot, because this is a long read.

    • kippinitreal@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      1 month ago

      Agreed. I think GN missed the point by not publishing the smoking gun receipts, but an avalanche of receipts for things LMG was guilty of and have admitted to. It kinda makes it look like GN wants it to look like they’re “burying LMG with evidence”, but in reality the smoking gun would only need to be a paragraph & some screenshots.

    • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      1 month ago

      You can’t publish an entire NYT news article verbatim and then claim, “I’m just reacting.” The GN article is copyrighted.

        • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          1 month ago

          Plagiarism is when you don’t make legal claims on someone copying your work or where the work wasn’t copyrighted.

          GN was being nice about it by calling it plagiarism instead of invoking lawyers.

          • MajorasMaskForever@lemmy.worldEnglish
            0·
            1 month ago

            That is not what plagiarism means

            Oxford English Dictionary

            The action or practice of taking someone else’s work, idea, etc., and passing it off as one’s own

            Merriam-Webster

            to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own : use (another’s production) without crediting the source

            Dictionary.com

            an act or instance of using or closely imitating the language and thoughts of another author without authorization and the representation of that author’s work as one’s own, as by not crediting the original author

            All three definitions clearly state that Plagiarism is taking some production of someone else’s and claiming it as your own. That there is some kind of deception going on as to who created the original thought/work. Merriam-Webster’s definition has that second component talking about the act of using without crediting the source, which LMG didn’t do at first but later added a pinned comment. While not immediate and the barest amount of effort on LMGs part, but it still is credit.

            Plagiarism has no legal component to its definition.

            Copyright does have legal implications as it is someone’s right to duplicate a work. In general a creator of a work has exclusive rights to reproduce it, but there are exceptions (everyone’s favorite Fair Use laws). With LMG being Canadian the legal side is more complicated but in US courts it’s been tested that one such exception is around additional commentary and that the usage of the work was limited as to what was relevant to being actively discussed (big case here being H3H3 a few years back). Even by GN’s own admission the WAN show was taking phrases and repeating them verbatim, but just that, only phrases. Ones pertaining directly to the on hand topic of EVGAs ending partnership with Nvidia. They were not showing GNs video, reading his script word for word start to finish. Again, IANAL but I find it highly unlikely that a US or Canadian court would say that what LMG did on WAN Show meets the definition of a copyright violation

            • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.worldEnglish
              0·
              1 month ago

              That’s the point I was attempting to make. Linus used Gamers Nexus copyrighted work without permission or even attribution. It was both plagiarism and a copyright violation. Steve was being polite by only calling Linus out on the plagiarism.

              • MajorasMaskForever@lemmy.worldEnglish
                0·
                1 month ago

                Did you not understand anything I typed out?

                LMG used GN material, yes.

                LMG did not commit plagiarism

                LMG did not violate copyright law

                Words have meanings, and by the definitions of the words plagiarism and copyright LMG does not meet the criteria. You and I do not get to change the definitions to fit whatever narrative we have in our heads on who we want to be the good guys and who we want to be the bad guys

                • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.worldEnglish
                  0·
                  1 month ago

                  From the Gamers Nexus website:

                  “The script nearly identically matched the order, topics, and words.”

  • lustyargonian@lemm.eeEnglish
    0·
    1 month ago

    I noped out of LTT after the initial reporting. What happened about the allegations of harassment and particular allegations by a former woman employee?

    • Trainguyrom@reddthat.comEnglish
      0·
      1 month ago

      By memory the external firm they hired did not release documentation of the investigation but did release a statement saying LMG hadn’t done the things that were claimed

    • TBi@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      1 month ago

      Personally I’d wait for more people to complain. There are lots of women working at LMG, no one else has complained.

      I’ve see disgruntled workers before lie about lots of stuff. If she’s telling the truth then others would also be saying something.

      • lustyargonian@lemm.eeEnglish
        0·
        1 month ago

        Makes sense. I guess it was a perfect storm back then that convinced me of something wrong. I used to watch WAN religiously and all the LMG channels, but with all these allegations it made sense to me to not give my viewership until everything is cleared, and it seems we are still far from it?

        • DolphinMath@slrpnk.netEnglish
          0·
          1 month ago

          with all these allegations it made sense to me to not give my viewership until everything is cleared, and it seems we are still far from it?

          I mean, it’s hard to proof a negative.

          You ought to follow your conscience, but I haven’t found her to be a reliable narrator personally. The results of the investigation were enough for me, at least without further evidence to the contrary.

    • DolphinMath@slrpnk.netEnglish
      0·
      1 month ago

      In summary, as confirmed by the investigation, the allegations made against the team were largely unfounded, misleading, and unfair.

      Or more specifically the investigation found that:

      Claims of bullying and harassment were not substantiated.

      Allegations that sexual harassment were ignored or not addressed were false.

      Any concerns that were raised were investigated. Furthermore, from reviewing our history, the investigator is confident that if any other concerns had been raised, we would have investigated them.

      There was no evidence of “abuse of power” or retaliation. The individual involved may not have agreed with our decisions or performance feedback, but our actions were for legitimate work-related purposes, and our business reasons were valid.

      Allegations of process errors and miscommunication while onboarding this individual were partially substantiated, but the investigator found ample documentary evidence of LMG working to rectify the errors and the individual being treated generously and respectfully. When they had questions, they were responded to and addressed.

      Source

  • Eiri@lemmy.caEnglish
    0·
    1 month ago

    Man, these people need to sit down and have a proper talk. It’s embarassing that they’ve been fighting in public for so long. A lot of that sounds like simple communication breakdowns, even.

    Every goddamn time there’s a new step in these conflicts, my opinion of everyone involved tumbles.

    • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      1 month ago

      Did you not read the entire page? They were in private communication. Linus stole a long GN article, Steve only asked for recognition instead of threatening lawsuits and Linus never responded.

      • Eiri@lemmy.caEnglish
        0·
        1 month ago

        I’ve read it.

        Yes. Very unprofessional that the contacts in private ended up the way they did.

        Also unprofessional that Linus thought Steve was ignoring him when he was just texting the wrong number.

        But those sound a lot more like incompetence than malice to me. A lot of the story is things that could’ve been solved with better communication.

        The “scale of blame” definitively sounds like it’s tilted towards LMG. But I don’t really care about that right now. What I care about is that I really hope they talk for real instead of trying and failing to understand each other by text/email and then involving the audience in their fight by taking it public.

        I want them to talk like adults, and I want to stop feeling like I’m being made to watch a children’s quarrel.

        • whats_all_this_then@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          1 month ago

          This! It’s kinda turning (parts of) tech YT into the drama filled cesspool that is the rest of YT. Shit that could and should be a private conversation seems like it’s getting blown up for attention and clicks. Frankly if I wanted that type of content, I’d be watching the channels that do it better and at a much larger scale.

  • Viri4thus@feddit.orgEnglish
    0·
    29 days ago

    Call me when GN explains how having an engineer sent by an incumbent monopoly holder provide exclusive content right before a massive launch is not a massive conflict of interest.

    I too would ditch low input advertisers like NZXT for clout if I was making the same money GN makes from NVIDIA alone.

    From its inception, GN has been covering for EVGA and for NVIDIA. He’s the origin of the story “it’s user error” when it’s obvious for anyone to see it was a design fault (including the consortia that published the specs and revised the 12V-2x6 connector because it was a shit connector).

    It’s easy to be strong vs small companies when one has the backing of one of the wealthiest companies on earth. Let Steve publish the contract he has with NVIDIA if he’s so keen on ethics and transparency.

    Till then, it’s just a competitor throw shade at another competitor for the sake of clout and audience. They’re both the same marketing arms of technology companies. Note that Linus is one the bigger YT advertisers for AMD and both companies are just releasing a new gen…

    • wetsoggybread@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      1 month ago

      Its a ride. Bit of backstory if you arent familiar. Linus media group (lmg) and gamers nexus(GN) are 2 content creators on youtube focusing on tech. Lmg focuses on ‘the best’ or ‘the most’ putting out videos like ‘the craziest pc ever built’ as a generic example. Theres a great team behind the videos and there are some pretty interesting one and the videos cover a wide variety of tech topics. GN on the other hand does mostly tech reviews and tech news and prides themselves on being accurate reporters.

      The controversy revolves around a third party. Being content creators they have sponsors who help fund the show. One of those sponsors that LMG used is an app called Honey which is a browser add-on that claims to help find the best coupons when shopping online. They came under fire recently when it turned out they were colluding with certain websites/companies and somehow stealing money. Instead of saying anything about this when they discovered it, lmg just quietly dropped them from sponsorship a change from their usual trend of calling out the company (theyve done it before with other sponsors). In a recent video, GN announced they were filing a class-action lawsuit against Honey and at one point they made a remark about Linus not doing anything at the time and then the shitshow just went downhill from there

      • chronicledmonocle@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        1 month ago

        It also started before that when GN/Steve got tired of LMG’s inaccurate reporting, so he posted a deep dive into LMG issues with inaccuracy. That really started the public demolition of their working relationship.

          • DolphinMath@slrpnk.netEnglish
            0·
            1 month ago

            More specifically, a fan posted a video during a tour and an (ex) LMG employee started talking about ways he felt like his department (labs) was doing things better than other channels like GamersNexus.

            • DolphinMath@slrpnk.netEnglish
              0·
              1 month ago

              That was later found to be unsubstantiated by a third party lawfirm hired to investigate the matter…

      • JaggedRobotPubes@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        1 month ago

        So this isn’t even a story then. Got it.

        Thank you for your actual reporting in the comment section below this bullshit that’s getting called reporting.

      • DolphinMath@slrpnk.netEnglish
        0·
        1 month ago

        Instead of saying anything about this when they discovered it, lmg just quietly dropped them from sponsorship a change from their usual trend of calling out the company (theyve done it before with other sponsors).

        If by other sponsors you mean Eufy, which happened well after They dropped Honey, then yes that was handled differently. Their logic was that Eufy’s (still-ongoing) security issues directly affected consumers, whereas all LMG knew about was Honey hijacking affiliate revenue trackers.

        Source on what LMG as a company knew:

        We ended the partnership with Honey due to the way their service interacted with affiliate links. Essentially, if someone clicked on a affiliate link (For example, one of ours below in the video description on YouTube), and then if they “use honey” and search for a deal, Honey will override that tracking links even if they don’t find you a deal.

        https://linustechtips.com/topic/1415146-weekly-sponsorship-suggestioncomplaint-thread-feb-28-2022/

  • Majorllama@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    1 month ago

    Like most internet beefs I’m guessing the truth lands somewhere in the middle.

    Though as someone only sorta paying attention and I don’t really care what happens I will say that Linus appears to be more upfront about his mistakes and continuing to own up to them as they come up. Not like he can own up for things that either never happened or he doesn’t remember happening. He is still a human.

    GN comes across more like the jealous angry kid that lashes out over text messages because they didnt get what they wanted. I can’t shake the feeling that the “sudden” turn of GN against Linus has something to do with something else entirely that none of us even know about… Yet.

    All that being said I have always liked Luke the most and I stopped watching LTT stuff quite a bit when Luke left. I still watch WAN because I find the information and entertainment combination the perfect background audio while I’m tinkering or whatever. I think both the GN and LTT videos generally both suck these days. GN just stands there with some paper in his hands and word vomits at the camera. Linus reminds me of the annoying orange at times.

    • DWin@feddit.ukEnglish
      0·
      1 month ago

      I was similar but stopped watching the wan show when every episode became a product showcase for their merch. Real shame, I feel Luke’s a weight keeping Linus somewhat grounded.

      • Majorllama@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        1 month ago

        Luke is a relatively sane normal person. Linus is like the tasmanian devil. If Luke and Linuses wife weren’t around who knows how canceled he would already have been lol.

        • Trainguyrom@reddthat.comEnglish
          0·
          1 month ago

          It’s really funny how in Linus’s worst WAN show moments Luke just silently sits there doing nothing, every once in a while making a small attempt to prevent the imminent train wreck then leaving Linus to crash the train when it becomes obvious he’s intent on doing so. Honestly they should probably stop doing the WAN show given how many times it’s been WAN show clips that got them in hot water

          • Majorllama@lemmy.worldEnglish
            0·
            1 month ago

            I mean nothing super serious had come of it. The “hard R” incident was the funniest fucking thing ever. Luke’s face was one of pure panic as he thought everything was blowing up right in his face.

    • sunzu2@thebrainbin.org
      0·
      1 month ago

      You are prolly right about some hidden issue here but at least GN does proper journalism and Linus is just does content IMHO

      So I favour GN until Steve is properly discredited

      • calamityjanitor@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        1 month ago

        Informing the subject of an investigation and requesting comment to the allegations is considered proper journalism. Otherwise it comes off more as an attack.

        • jawsua@lemmy.oneEnglish
          0·
          1 month ago

          Wild to go, “That claim about our journalistic integrity is wrong! We’re actually far MORE irresponsible than you thought!” And think it’s a gotcha

      • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        1 month ago

        Yep.

        GN brings the receipts and can back up any claim they make.

        Linus just bitches and moans while being called out on his legitimately bad behavior/thievery/etc, because all he does is lean into his cult who lap up everything dear leader says and viciously attacks anyone that dare criticize dear leader.

        • jawsua@lemmy.oneEnglish
          0·
          1 month ago

          Man, idk about any of that. The only thing I can say is too far is the alleged autism comment, but there’s no proof, just his word from 4.5 years ago

          The WAN show is news commentary, that sometimes doesn’t accurately attribute. That’s reason not to watch, but not for claims of plagiarism or stealing.

          And I rarely watch anything from LMG, except for specific videos that are exactly what I’m looking for. I’m not a follower of theirs, but just taking GN word as gospel seems just as dumb

          • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.worldEnglish
            0·
            1 month ago

            The WAN show is news commentary, that sometimes doesn’t accurately attribute. That’s reason not to watch, but not for claims of plagiarism or stealing.

            Commentary is

            “And heres a news article from Gamers Nexus insert brief summary of story, brief back and fort, comments and opinions about it. And if you want more info, follow up with the original article at the link below”

            And I rarely watch anything from LMG, except for specific videos that are exactly what I’m looking for. I’m not a follower of theirs, but just taking GN word as gospel seems just as dumb

            There are literally evidence supported facts, and the fact that you are trying to handwave it away as dumb and as fools taking random empty words as gospel, Kinda really reveals the actual hand you’re trying to play here, and says a lot more about you than anything else.

      • Steve Dice@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        0·
        1 month ago

        What GN does is not proper journalism. It’s sensationalist bullshit. Please stop demeaning actual journalists.